Fugitive Moat cornered by police

Friday 9 July 2010 20:37 BST

Police officers in Rothbury as Raoul Moat is cornered by police snipers

Fugitive Raoul Moat is in a stand-off with armed police and surrounded by at least 10 snipers in the riverside area of Rothbury, in Northumberland, amid eyewitness accounts that Britain's most wanted man was holding a gun to his neck.

Dozens more armed police were on stand-by as the manhunt appeared to be reaching its climax. Officers at the scene confirmed they had tracked down the former nightclub doorman and a process of negotiation was under way.

Eyewitnesses described how Moat, 37, was lying down pointing his gun at himself while surrounded by armed police and negotiators at the beginning of the stand-off.

Resident Chris Robertson told the BBC he thought he had seen Moat holding a sawn-off shotgun to his neck.

A Northumbria Police spokesman said: "A man who fits the description of Raoul Thomas Moat has been located in the riverbank area in the vicinity of Rothbury. Police are currently negotiating."

It is believed that Moat's friend Tony Laidler has been escorted into the police cordon. Shortly afterwards, former England footballed arrived in the village saying he wanted to offer his support to Moat.

Moat's uncle Charlie Alexander also said he would gladly talk him into giving up as he watched events unfold on television at home in Gateshead.

Eyewitness Susan Ballantyne, from Riverside, who is 100 yards from the scene and watching the drama unfold from an upstairs window in her house, said: "I think he is talking to the police but he is too far away for me to hear what he is saying."

One of the Northumbria Police officers guarding the entrance to the village, who would not be named, said the stand-off could take all night. He added: So long as he's a danger only to himself they'll be happy for it to take as long as it takes."

Locals suspect Moat has been hiding in a newly-enlarged culvert that runs under the town centre and into the river close to where he is now cornered.